The national debt just passed $14 trillion. To put that into perspective, if you placed fourteen trillion one-dollar bills end-to-end, they would stretch around Al Gore's waistline 322 times. Now, the $14 trillion figure is certainly a misunderestimation, being the official figure. Plus it doesn't take into account the unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security, which the Federal Reserve estimates at well over $100 trillion.

Here's a tribute to the 1979 movie Americathon, in which the country is bankrupt and holds a telethon to keep from being repossessed by wealthy Native Americans. Come to think of it, if we're going to be owned -- which we are -- we may as well be owned by Native Americans instead of international bankers. But we digress. (Note that the donation counter goes up to $1 trillion. Ah, the good old days!)